


This Hard Earth

by HopeCoppice



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen, Kara/Mon-El mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-10-01 07:14:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10183769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeCoppice/pseuds/HopeCoppice
Summary: Mon-El is struggling to understand some weird alien customs. Luckily, he knows an alien expert who might be able to help him out.





	1. Chapter 1

Earth was hard.

 

Not physically - Mon-El was fairly certain that at least some of the naturally-occurring elements on Daxam were substantially stronger and firmer than those on Earth - but social etiquette on this new planet was impossible. There were so many assumptions to contend with, so many things that meant more than they said. Smiling at someone, for example. Apparently that was a very nuanced thing here on Earth that could mean anything from 'I like you' to 'I wish you'd get out of my face and leave me alone but the difference in our social status prohibits me from saying so'. On Daxam, it usually meant 'hey, want to exchange mutual physical pleasure?'. And then there was the handshake. Apparently, on Earth, when someone extended their hand you were supposed to place yours in it and firmly move it up and down. That was alright; Mon-El had got the hang of that pretty quickly, even allowing for the fact that apparently there was a whole extra set of rules that governed when it was appropriate - even mandatory - to insert your hand into another person's hand and when it wasn't. What he hadn't realised - because how could he possibly realise, it didn't make any sense - was that if you shook hands with somebody, you were making a sort of gentleman's agreement not to punch them in the face for the next ten minutes or so. He wasn't entirely clear on the time limit, but there was definitely some kind of unspoken social contract involved in the whole affair.

 

And then there was their whole attitude to sex. On Daxam, sex was just... a thing. Like going bowling, or sharing a cup of coffee, or watching a movie. If you enjoyed it, that was great, and you could do it with anyone you liked as long as they were up for it. If you didn't want to, you didn't. It wasn't a perfect system; Daxam's economy was built on slavery, so there were some definite issues relating to whether some sections of the population actually wanted to do it or not, and Mon-El found the whole thing uncomfortable enough not to even make such a suggestion to a slave. But for the most part, it was as simple as wanting it or not, and you could sleep with friends, or your official chosen mate, as many or few as you liked, whenever you wanted, with no obligation. The sleeping part wasn't even compulsory - if you wanted to get up to naked gymnastics and then leave the moment you'd landed your last move, that was pretty much acceptable, like leaving at the end of a meal. Or you could stick around and cuddle until you wanted to have another go.

 

Earth wasn't like that. Earth regulated everything from full-blown kinky shenanigans to kissing and even holding hands. Dirty text messages! Everything had rules attached, everything to do with physical relationships and emotional closeness. Mon-El had no idea what he was supposed to do, except that so far a lot of people seemed to be cross with him for reasons he didn't understand, and some other people seemed to think he wanted to spend a lot more non-sexual time with them than he actually did. And then there was something he thought he might have done while he was ill, but probably shouldn't have, but nobody else seemed to remember even though it should have been pretty memorable if it had really happened... Mon-El needed help. He needed advice. He needed to ask someone who actually liked him for advice. That left him surprisingly few options, but he did have one dependable, straightforward friend on this planet.

"Winn. Will you help me work out some alien stuff?"

"Er." The other man looked up from his computer and frowned. "Well, I just started here, I'm not an expert on aliens, but I can try. What planet are we talking about?"

"Earth."

"Oh." Winn hopped up from his seat, looking much happier. "Still not an expert, but I live here, so I'll do my best. Training room?"

"I think that might be a good idea." Mon-El knew he had every reason to be confused about this crazy planet's rules, and he shouldn't be ashamed of his lack of knowledge, but he still didn't want anyone knowing just how clueless he really was.

 

In the training room, Winn leant against a wall, folded his arms, and regarded him curiously.

"So is this really about Earth, or is it more to do with Kara?"

"Kara?"

"You've had serious heart-eyes for- no, you know what, forget it, it's none of my business. So really Earth stuff then?"

"Er..." Mon-El debated telling him the whole story, for a moment, but the kiss might not have even happened, judging by Kara's complete lack of reaction to it. There was no point in complicating matters. "Really Earth stuff. It's about... well, relationships. Sex, and kissing and stuff like-"

"Woah." Winn held his hands up, which Mon-El had learned meant either 'I surrender' or 'stop'. He stopped talking, erring on the side of caution. "I'm not giving you the birds and the bees talk, dude."

"Birds...? No, I'm, like, totally not into that. Is that a thing on this planet? Like, a normal thing?"

"What? No, it's an expression, it means- never mind. I'm not explaining how sex works."

"I know how sex works. Humans are basically like Daxamites, physically. It's this... dating thing I don't get. What does it all mean?"

"You don't have dating on Daxam?"

"Not really. Sex is a pastime, like... a hobby. As long as you don't spread any diseases or get anyone pregnant by accident, it's not a big deal."

"Huh." Winn nodded slowly. "So... you aren't actually trying to be a total jerk by sleeping with every girl at Catco?"

"No. See, this is what I don't get. Why do people think I'm being a jerk? Is it because I left out the men? It's just sometimes you want something particular-"

"Woah." There was that gesture again. "Stop talking. I so don't need to know. Look, it's... here on Earth, at least in America, people generally don't hook up with their coworkers unless they want to have a relationship."

"We do have a relationship. We're colleagues. That's... our relationship to one another."

"Yes, but a romantic relationship. Sharing hopes and dreams and... I don't know, food. Cuddles. Kisses. Flowers and movies and chocolates-"

"Wait, wait." Mon-El held up a hand and began searching for a piece of paper and a pen. "I need to make notes."

* * *

An hour later, silence descended on the training room.

"So... I'm supposed to be doing all this stuff... with everyone I have sex with? Or even just want to have sex with?"

"Uh... yeah, I guess? Unless you've already arranged with them that it's just meaningless sex. Or meaningless kissing. Or whatever."

"So if I was going to have sex with you, for an example, I have to say... what would I say?"

"Er... you say 'Hey, Winn, do you want to have some meaningless casual sex?' and either I say yes or it gets kind of awkward. So you should probably think carefully about who you ask before you ask them."

“Hey, Winn, do you want to have some meaningless casual sex,” Mon-El repeated obediently, and then hurried to explain himself. “Just practicing, sorry, I didn't mean...”

“No problem, I get it. See how awkward it can be, though? So… use your new powers wisely.”

“And… if I did want a mate? A… girlfriend, or boyfriend? What if I want to do the weird cuddling, buying flowers thing?”

“Then you tell them that, I guess.” Winn shrugged. “I know a lot of this stuff seems like everyone just… knows it, but you always have to work it out with a new relationship. It’s always gonna be confusing, bro. Sorry.”

 

Mon-El groaned and smacked his head into his notebook. Earth was  _ hard. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mon-El has to put the theory he's learned into practice. Good thing the course of true love always runs smooth!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, you seemed to want more, so here it is! Don't say I never do anything nice for you.
> 
> There'll probably be another part or two of this, if people are interested. Let me know!

Mon-El was doing his best. Really, he was.

 

After that minor hiccup where he’d tried to practice his romance skills on Eve - which Winn informed him was a big no-no, and which had been a disaster anyway because all he could talk about was Kara - he’d thought he was on the right track.

_ Flowers,  _ Winn had said,  _ chocolates and cuddles and movies and love songs.  _ And Mon-El had written it all down, so he knew he hadn't forgotten it.

 

“Kara,” he tried, feeling surprisingly nervous as he approached his friend’s desk, “I, er, I got you this.” He held out his offering, all too aware that here on Earth, he was engaging in a custom with lasting consequences that couldn’t be taken back.

“Oh, thanks-”

“It’s… they didn’t have an Andromeda bar. So, er, the Milky Way, that’s where we are, so… it seemed right.”

“Aww.” Kara took the chocolate and smiled at him. “That’s really sweet of you, Mon-El. I’ll have it with my lunch. Thanks!” Then she tucked it into her desk drawer, picked up a pile of papers and knocked on Snapper’s office door. Mon-El waited, wondering if she was about to take the afternoon off work to go on a date with him, but she just stepped inside and started going through her files with her boss. OK, so chocolate hadn’t worked; she didn’t seem to have realised its significance at all. He would have to try something different.

 

“Inception,” he declared, and set the DVD on her desk.

“Er… thanks?”

“I wanted to bring you a movie,” he explained awkwardly, “and the guy in the store said this was a good one.”

“Right. Right! Thanks. I’ll see if Alex and maybe Maggie want to come over and watch it with me tonight. I don’t know Maggie very well, so it’ll be really nice to have a girls’ night and get to know her better.”

“Oh. Yeah, that sounds great! You should definitely do that.” He still didn’t seem to be getting his point across; he would have to talk to Winn, but he didn’t want to admit that he’d messed up every attempt so far. Maybe he’d just try a couple of the other points on his list.

 

It takes him ages - and some technical help from Winn - to work out how to put music together into what Winn told him was called a ‘mix tape’ here on Earth, although there didn’t seem to be any tape involved in the process. He set a selection of music - love songs, and songs that made him think of Kara, which might as well be love songs given the way they made him feel - into a playlist and sent it to her in an email with a simple message.

_ Hi Kara, _

_ Here are some songs I thought you might like because they remind me of you. _

_ Maybe we could talk about them later! _

_ *Mike* _

 

He managed to be patient for two days before he went back to CatCo.

“Mike! You don’t work here any more, you can’t keep coming in and out. Does your pass even still work?”

“The doorman likes me.” Kara rolled her eyes and he realised she’d taken that the wrong way. “As a friend, I mean-”

“I don’t care, Mike. I don’t want to hear it. Just go, before Snapper sees you and I get in trouble.”

“But- OK, I just wanted to know what you thought of my playlist-”

“I haven’t had time, sorry. I’ve been snowed under- oh, there’s Snapper, go!” She made frantic shooing motions and then rushed to meet her boss, and Mon-El had no option but to leave.

 

_ Flowers _ . Flowers seemed to be the key to everything. In movies, romcoms, and even sitcoms, women on this Earth seemed to be completely won over by flowers. Mon-El had avoided even being in the same room as a flower so far, just in case he accidentally won himself a mate. Now, though, it was time to roll out the big guns. He found a bewildering array of florists online and spent an hour choosing the perfect bouquet. It probably would have taken longer, but he got frustrated and just went for the one he liked best. It was a collection of bright yellow flowers - sunflowers, the description said - and some with gorgeous blue petals that were apparently  _ gentiana.  _ Whatever those were. They were the exact shade of Kara’s eyes.

 

He waited until he got an email informing him that the flowers had been delivered, then risked a trip into the Catco offices. He was excited to realise that the office was completely covered in flowers - perhaps the company he’d ordered them from had realised how special Kara was and decided to treat her - mostly not in the colours he’d chosen, but still, they’d done a great job. At least, that was what he thought until Kara walked past, phone pressed to her ear, the bouquet he’d selected tucked into her arms along with her papers.

“Lena, they’re beautiful, but you really didn’t have to send so many! It’s lovely of you, of course, and I appreciate the gesture, but I’m going to have to rehome a few. My boss isn’t really the flowery type.” Kara hung up and went over to the IT technicians, approaching the lone woman in the group. “Would you like some flowers for your desk?”

“God, yes, please. I know it’s a stereotype that nerds smell, but these guys really do. Why did the  _ clean  _ one have to leave?” The other techies roared with laughter, but Mon-El had already turned to leave. Kara didn’t even know those carefully-selected blue and yellow flowers were from him, and she certainly didn’t like them enough to keep them.

 

It was time to admit defeat. He returned to the DEO, his last resort now that he’d completely exhausted his own intellect.

“Hey, Winn, the computer girl at Catco totally misses you. But enough of that. I need your help with that alien stuff again.”

Winn sighed, rolled his shoulders, and stood.

“Come on, then. Let’s take a walk.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mon-El realises he missed out an important part of the courting process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've tweaked the timelines a bit, sorry, so it's not exactly following canon.
> 
> Also - this is not the last chapter. It might not even be the second-last chapter. I've seen so much hate for this ship on my dash that I'm shipping it ever harder out of spite.

 

Winn was not entirely sympathetic to Mon-El’s plight.

“Sorry, bro, but if you’ve already brought her chocolates, and flowers, and all that stuff, and told her how you feel, and she’s still not interest-”

“Wait, what?” Mon-El held up a hand. “What was that last thing?”

“Er… flowers?”

“No, after that.”

“She’s still not interested…?”

“No. Before - tell her how I feel?”

“Yeah. I mean… you did do that, right?”

“But-” Mon-El flipped open his notebook and scanned through his notes. “You never said to tell her how I feel. You said you have to tell people if you want to have casual sex with them, but if you want to date them you bring them flowers and movies and chocolate and love songs. And I did!”

“Well, of course you’ve got to tell her, although flowers are usually a dead giveaway-”

“Mine got mixed up with all the others she got today.”

“Really? Wow, OK, she’s popular. But then, she’s Kara. No, but man, you’ve gotta tell her.”

“Even if I want more than just sex?”

“Especially then. Look, if she’s not into you, you can’t change that. But you’ve got to go and tell her how you feel.”

“I… what, now?”

“Why not?”

* * *

Mon-El found himself hesitating outside Kara’s apartment building. This was it. He really liked Kara, and he didn’t want her to hate him. He would be so happy if she accepted him - if she would be his girlfriend, even just for a short while - but mostly he didn’t want to lose her friendship. From what Winn had said, that was absolutely a possibility.

 

A blur of blue and red shot overhead, and he realised that Kara had just got home from some feat of heroism. She must have gone on her way home from work - he couldn’t risk missing her if she had to save the day again once she’d eaten. He took a deep breath, looked up at the yellow sun above him in a silent plea for strength, and went inside.

 

His knock at the door got no answer except the faint crash of something falling over.

“Kara? Are you OK?”

“Oh, it’s you!” The door opened, and Mon-El realised that the crash had been due to Kara hopping around, trying to get one of her boots off. “Thank Rao. I’m just gonna get changed, come in.”

Mon El obediently followed her into the apartment, but she shut her bedroom door firmly before he could reach it. Oh, right, yeah. Getting dressed and undressed was another thing people were weird about here on Earth.

 

Soon enough, Kara emerged looking much more like her normal, civilian self.

“Sorry about that; I just got in. Do you want to stay for dinner? I ordered food, but I’ll share. Except-”

“Except the potstickers. Yeah, uh, no, I don’t think I should. I just wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh. OK, well, shoot. I’m all ears. Not, uh, literally.”

Mon-El nodded; he’d heard the Earth expression before. It meant much the same as ‘ _ I’m tuned to your frequency’  _ on Daxam, so it wasn’t hard to remember.

 

All the same, it was a difficult conversation to start. Mon-El had to take a moment to collect his thoughts before finally diving in there.

“I wanted to say sorry. For lying to you. I do remember kissing you, when I was dying. I just… I thought it was my only chance to show you how I felt, so maybe you’d have one good memory of me. So maybe you’d remember me at all. And then I lived, and I was embarrassed, and you didn’t say anything about it.”

“I didn’t want to embarrass you,” Kara offered, but Mon-El held his hand up in the gesture that meant  _ stop _ .

“But I need to say something about it, because it’s not going away. So… will you just let me talk, for a bit?” Kara hesitated, but at last she gave him a slight nod as permission to continue. “I… don’t really understand Earth. I don’t understand the relationships or the rules and I keep getting things wrong. And for a long time I didn’t understand the way I feel about you. Because I look at you and my heart just feels… full, and it took me a long time to realise that… that wanting to spend all your time with someone isn’t just a weird Earth thing, or something boring people do on Daxam when they can’t keep up with the youngsters. It’s a feeling, it’s just… it’s… god, Kara, I just never felt like this about anyone, the way I feel about you. And I don’t understand how to be a good boyfriend, not exactly, but I would try so hard to learn, if it meant I could be  _ your  _ boyfriend.”

 

Kara was staring at him like a rabbit caught in headlights, a little furrow appearing above the bridge of her glasses. She didn’t look particularly delighted with his declaration; this was not how things went in the few romantic movies Mon-El had encountered in his time on Earth so far.

“Mon-El, I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s fine.” It wasn’t; it hurt, but that wasn’t Kara’s fault. If she didn’t like Mon-El the way he liked her, if seeing him didn’t make her heart clench tight as if it wanted to hold onto that moment of their being together, that was alright. It was nobody’s fault. The important thing was to make sure it didn’t affect their friendship. “You don’t have to say anything. I just… I didn’t want to keep that secret from you anymore. This way, you know about it, it’s out in the open. But what’s most important to me is that we’re friends. I love being friends with you, Kara, and I don’t want to lose that for anything. So… it’s OK. I don’t expect anything. I just wanted to clear the air. Is… that OK? Can we still be friends?”

“Of course we’re friends, Mon-El. That’s just… a lot to take in.”

“I know. Sorry. I’ll leave you to your potstickers.”

 

It took every ounce of strength he had, even under the yellow sun, to turn and walk out. He half-hoped that Kara would call out his name, call him back to talk more, or… or to reassure him, somehow, that he hadn’t messed everything up with his stupid  _ feelings _ . But she didn’t, and he kept walking, down the stairs and past the deliveryman with his bags of steaming hot food. He kept walking all the way to the alien bar, and then he curled up in the corner with a club soda to try to forget the whole stupid, complicated,  _ alien _ world.


	4. Chapter 4

Two days after his ill-fated confession to Kara, Mon-El was wiping down the bar when a minor scuffle broke out. By the time he'd broken it up and returned to his previous task, Alex and the gang were there too, nonchalantly taking over the pool table while its previous occupants were busy picking up the pieces. And if Alex and her friends were there, that meant that so was...

“Hey, Mon-El, can I talk to you for a minute?”  _ Kara _ . He looked up from the burn mark he was trying to scrub and his breath caught for a moment. She was beautiful. He had met beautiful women before, but he'd never felt like this. Every cell in his body seemed to come alive, all of a sudden, like a cat waking up in a ray of sunshine. He  _ felt  _ like a cat in a ray of sunshine – warm, and safe, and utterly content. Then reality set in.

“...Hey. Uh, sure. What's up?”

“Can I talk to you privately? About, er… well, what you said the other night.”

“Uh, sure.” Mon-El could have kicked himself; of all the stupid, repetitive things to say. “I’ll, er, take my break.”

“It won’t take long.”

 

He led her to the only quiet corner of the bar, aware of Alex glaring at him over Kara’s shoulder as if daring him to upset her sister. If only she knew - he’d never hurt Kara again, not if he could help it. He’d given her the power to crush him, to break his heart-

“Thank you for telling me. I… I get it, it’s brave and, and very kind of you to let me know. I just… I can’t do that right now. I’ve got this new job that’s taking up all my time and I’m really enjoying that, I want to focus all my energy on it when I’m not busy being Supergirl, and there’s just no time for anything else, it wouldn’t be fair on either of us.”

“Oh.” Mon-El wasn’t sure if those were good reasons or excuses, but he would accept them either way. Still- “You don’t… not like me?”

“Of course I like you, Mon-El. As a friend. So… we’re friends, right?”

“Oh. Oh, yeah! Of course. Yeah. Sure.”

“Great!” Kara’s smile was brighter than ever; she was obviously thrilled to have resolved the situation to everyone’s satisfaction. Mon-El swallowed his disappointment and did his best to match her expression.

“Great.”

 

The silence stretched awkwardly between them until Mon-El couldn’t take it any more.

“Well, I should get back to-”

“Yeah, I should-” Kara made a vague gesture towards the others, and Mon-El nodded. Then he turned back to his work. If he happened to spend some time dusting the bottles on the back wall, behind the bar, well, that didn’t mean he was trying to hide his face until he could get his emotions back under control. The bottles needed dusting, that was all.

 

Twenty minutes later, he was laughing and joking as he served his friends drinks, teasing Winn about his latest war wound.

“James hasn’t got a scratch on him, how are you so beat up?”

“James has a suit! And a  _ shield! _ Which, by the way, I made him.”

“Then why don’t you make yourself one?”

“I don’t need-” Winn’s face suddenly lit up, as if he’d just had the most wonderful idea. “I could make  _ myself _ a suit.”

Mon-El patted him on the head. “Good idea. Keep that pretty face in one piece for the ladies.” He gave him two gentle slaps on the cheek and went back to his duties.

 

* * *

Winn didn’t leave with the others. Instead, he waited for a lull towards the end of Mon-El’s shift and bought him a drink.

“Sit with me for a moment. I want to talk to you.”

 

No sooner had he sat down than his friend’s face changed; suddenly, Winn was all business.

“You were being weird, earlier. What’s going on?”

“Did Kara notice?” The question burst out of him before he had time to think about it, and Winn sighed.

“Oh. So that’s what’s wrong. What happened, man?”

“I told her how I felt, and she… She told me just now that she doesn’t feel the same.”

“What, before she left? That sucks, man. She changed her mind on you?”

“No, when you guys got here. And there was no actual mind-changing. She, uh, I just left when I told her, so she didn’t feel like she had to-”

“Woah, woah, wait, so she rejected you like an hour ago?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

“But you were just talking to her like nothing happened!”

“Nothing did,” Mon-El reminded him, “I’m glad we’re still friends. It would have been nice - really nice - to be more, but-”

“Dude. When she knocked me back, I couldn’t even look at her for more than a week. That’s… wow.”

“Should I… not look at her?” Perhaps that was one of those rules he hadn’t realised Earth had.

“No, no! You’re doing good. It’s… well done. Uh, I have to go, anyway. Swype date.”

“Oh, cool, have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

“Is there anything you wouldn’t do?”

Mon-El frowned, thinking about it. “Not much, as long as my date’s up for it. See you at work.”

 

After Winn had gone, Mon-El spent the rest of his shift with an uneasy feeling that he’d done something wrong. Somehow, he must have failed to blend in with the humans of Earth. Perhaps, when someone rejected your advances on this planet, it was customary to seclude yourself, removing yourself from their immediate circle for a while. Perhaps he wasn't supposed to be seen in public at all. People here seemed to consider rejection a mark of great shame; perhaps he ought to be showing some sort of contrition. Did human society now consider him unclean somehow?

 

It seemed obvious to Mon-El that the best thing he could do was to retreat into his apartment and wait out the appropriate period of isolation. He didn't know how long that was, but someone would probably contact him when he could be seen in respectable society again.

 

Alex called an hour after he got home, to inform him that a situation was developing at the DEO. 

“I can’t come,” he told her, “I’ve got to stay home, away from people, for a while. At least, I think so. Winn didn’t make it clear.”

“What? Hang on. Winn! Why does Mon-El have to stay home?”

“What?” The exclamation was distant, but audible.

“Look, Mon-El, we don’t have time to figure out what you mean, Kara needs backup and James can’t keep up. Just get here.”

  
The DEO needed his help. Kara was fighting without proper support. Mon-El dropped his phone and started running.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The DEO incident won't be featuring prominently, sorry. It's just a run-of-the-mill alien-fight.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprising revelations all around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I completely lost my writing mojo. But now I have seen the finale and I need to give this fic the happy ending it was always meant to have.
> 
> (If this is too abrupt for you, though, let me know! I might be able to get another chapter in.)

Kara, of course, was quite capable of holding her own against anyone who cared to take her on. This guy, a Fort Rozz escapee, was no exception - but he  _ did  _ have a jet pack, which was really cool, and a red-sun light beam, which was one hundred percent not cool. Kara had managed to dodge the intermittent light until now, battling her way across the city in mid-air, but as Mon-El stared up into the sky she landed a punch square to the bad guy’s temple - and as he fell, out cold, the red light hit her, negating the powers Earth’s yellow sun provided. Supergirl plummeted, cape billowing, and the DEO were still three blocks away. The other alien crashed into a car, triggering the high-pitched wail of an alarm, but Mon-El didn’t even spare him a glance. Squinting up into the sky, he waited for Kara to recover - the light was gone, surely she should be able to fly again soon - but she just kept falling, as if in slow motion. Somehow, she must have fallen unconscious. The trauma of the fight, the shock of the light, the speed of the fall… for whatever reason, she couldn’t save herself. Mon-El didn’t have a lot of time to get into position, or even to think, but he threw his arms out and was rewarded with the sudden weight of Kara in his arms.

“Oof.” She didn’t weigh a lot, in general, but the force of the impact took him by surprise. He almost dropped her, but he clung on, shifting her closer against his chest until he was sure he could keep his balance.

 

“Oh my god, Kara!” Alex was on the scene, racing over to check on her sister, and Mon-El reluctantly lowered the unconscious hero to the ground so she could be examined properly. She seemed alright; even now, she was stirring, and Mon-El took several steps back.

“Don’t tell her I caught her. Don’t even tell her I was here.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Please, Alex.” 

She frowned at him, but nodded. “Fine. Then can you go and check on that guy?”

It was Mon-El’s turn to nod, and then all his attention was taken up with loading the alien into a DEO van and helping to get him handcuffed, then shifting the jet pack into a separate van for further study.

 

It was Winn \- of course it was Winn - who sought him out on their return to the DEO.

“Sooo Alex said you were being weird about Kara?”

“I thought humans liked to start conversations with greetings.”

“Yeah, whatever. Why don't you want Kara to know you saved her? That should get you, like, mad hero points, girls love that stuff.”

“Exactly.  I don’t want her to think she owes me anything.”

Winn stared at him for a moment.“You’re a _real_ hero, you know that?”

“What? No. As if  _ you’d _ have let her fall. Anyway, I should go, I’ve got to go to work.”

“After  _ that _ ?”

“People still want to drink.”

 

* * *

 

Mon-El didn’t expect to see Kara that night, so it came as a total surprise when she walked in just before closing.

“I can get you a drink, but it’s gonna have to be one. I’m just wiping the tables down ready to lock up.”

“I’m not actually here for a drink.”

“Oh?” He dropped his cloth onto the table he’d been cleaning, turned and leant against it to give her his full attention. “What can I help you with?”

“I, er. What you said before. About… about having feelings for me.”

“I told you, don’t worry about it.” He shrugged. “You’re not interested. It’s not a problem.”

“But I am.” She frowned. “I’m saying this all wrong already. I wanted to be romantic, but… I made a mistake, when I said I had to focus on being Supergirl. I forgot that there’s more to me. And Kara Danvers - Kara Zor-El -  _ I... _ do have feelings for you. Lots of feelings. And then today-”

“I told Alex not to tell you about that-”

“Alex? She didn’t tell me anything. What was she gonna tell me?”

“Nothing,” Mon-El assured her. “Sorry. I interrupted.” A little glimmer of hope was flickering to life inside him.

“Well, er… Today. I realised… Look, I know you weren’t there to see it but that alien I fought had some kind of laser that mimicked our red sun. He, er, he hit me with it, and I fell, and all I could think was that Alex was gonna be mad at me and that… that I’d never see you again. I thought I was gonna die, and I just… I just wanted you to hold me, just once. I honestly don’t know how I’m alive, I didn’t think Alex was going to get there on time.”

“She did her best, Kara. She nearly made it.”

“So… she didn’t catch me? Then who-”

“I  _ was  _ there. I… saw you land. It was really lucky, that’s all.”

 

Kara took a moment to digest this, closing her eyes as if she could feel herself falling again. Her brow furrowed in obvious distress and Mon-El stepped forward without thinking, pulling her into a hug.

“Hey. Hey, you made it. It’s OK.”

“Someone caught me,” she murmured, “I just wish I knew who it was. But… that’s not what we were talking about.” She took a step back and looked right into his eyes. “Please, Mon-El, say something. I know I said I couldn’t be with you, and… and I understand if it’s too late to change my mind-”

She was cut off as Mon-El cupped her cheek in his hand. He wanted to say something, anything, but the words were just gone. Instead, he leant in and kissed her. Unlike last time, this kiss was not tinged with desperation; unlike last time, he knew his feelings were returned. Kara wrapped her arms around him and kissed back, and a strange elation filled Mon-El until it bubbled over and spilled out as breathless laughter.

“I love you.” 

She beamed at him, and he knew that it was all going to be OK.

“Walk me home?”

* * *

Kara might be Supergirl, all power and grace, but she was also kind of a klutz in day-to-day situations. She was leading him up the stairs to her apartment, turning back every few seconds as if to check that he was still following her, when her foot caught on a step and she began to fall forwards. Instinctively, she threw herself backwards, and promptly fell that way instead. Mon-El caught her without thinking, scooping her into his arms and carrying her to her front door, bridal style. When he set her down, she frowned at him as if he was a particularly complicated math problem.

“Well, if you can’t be trusted to walk-”

“It was you.” She reached out and punched him gently in the arm. “You caught me! Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I- I didn’t want you to think you owed me anything.”

“Of course I owe you! I need to say thank you. But- wait, you thought that was why I wanted to be with you?”

“I hoped it wasn’t,” he admitted, but she shook her head.

“Of course it isn’t. I didn’t realise it was you until just now, I’ve… honestly, I’ve regretted turning you down since I did it. I thought I had to, to be Supergirl.”

“I understood. I promise, I wasn’t going to push it-”

“You didn’t. Rao, Mon-El, don’t you get it? I know what a good man you are. I know I can be Kara  _ and  _ Supergirl. I just didn’t realise what a good  _ catch  _ you were.” She paused, as if expecting a reaction, then sighed. “OK, so that pun fell flat. But come in. Have dinner with me. Maybe we could have some more kisses?”

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s do that.” And he followed her inside.


End file.
